Tastemakers: From drugs, bankruptcy and jail to starting a social enterprise cafe for ex-offenders

SINGAPORE – Drugs. Bankruptcy. Failed marriages. And prison. But Mr Matthew Poh is not letting his past define him.

The managing founder of social enterprise and cafe The Caffeine Experience says being sent to jail at age 44 was the jolt he needed to find his purpose. Now 53, he is focused on helping fellow ex-offenders find employment and restart their lives.

“During my time in prison, I reconnected with my faith and hit upon the idea of starting a social enterprise to help former offenders learn new skills and provide stable employment. I picked coffee because making coffee can be learnt quickly.”

One can learn to make coffee in 1½ days and become a barista in six months, he notes. “Instead of cooking drugs, the ex-offenders on our staff now cook pasta, and roast and brew coffee. I am putting them on the right side of the law.”

He knows how easily one’s life can be derailed. At 23, he started an interior design business which quickly became lucrative. However, it also led to a life of extravagance and partying.

His then girlfriend, who later became his first wife, introduced him to party drugs and, over time, his drug habit escalated.

While his business was flourishing – at one point, he had a $1.8 million contract and 60 people working under him – his personal relationships were failing.

He married his first wife when he was 30, but the marriage lasted only a few months. His second marriage, to a Chinese national, in 2011 also broke down and the couple filed for divorce in 2016.

In 2013, his mother died and Mr Poh began a downward spiral. His second marriage was in trouble by then, and he indulged in substance abuse to escape from reality.

He neglected his business. Even as clients filed lawsuits against his company for unfulfilled contracts, his addiction worsened when his friends introduced him to methamphetamine.

In 2015, things came to a head when he was declared bankrupt. By this point, he had been abusing drugs for about 20 years.

From dining at fancy restaurants and flying to Hong Kong for $1,000 haircuts, his lifestyle changed overnight. “It was a humbling experience, I felt ashamed. Outside, I held my head high, but alone, I would cry,” he says.

He remembers how he felt when he first took the bus after being declared bankrupt. “When I held the handle bar, I felt emptiness and a huge loss. It wasn’t about the loss of my material possessions. It was how I had lost myself, my sense of dignity and self-respect.”

But he continued to use drugs until he was caught in 2015. When he was called up by the police to assist with investigations, he showed up at the police station, tested positive for drugs and was sent to jail for eight months, followed by four months in a halfway house.

During his incarceration, the on-and-off Christian renewed his faith and purpose in life.

Six months into serving his sentence, he hit upon the idea of starting a social enterprise and put it into action when he left prison in 2016. Naysayers told him he would last three months at most. 

With a wry smile, he says: “The last seven years have been so tough, even the naysayers couldn’t have predicted the kind of obstacles and challenges waiting for me.”

The Caffeine Experience has three outlets – at The Star Vista, The URA Centre in Maxwell Road and Mediacorp Campus Building – and employs 13 staff, 12 of them former offenders. But getting to this point has been fraught with difficulties.

Mr Poh nearly ditched the idea of starting a social enterprise after repeated rejections from potential investors within the first nine months.

“I lost count of how many people I approached. Some would not even hear me out and hung up as soon as I introduced myself. As an ex-offender and bankrupt, I had zero credibility,” he says.

It was only with the help of a plastic surgeon friend, who invested $60,000, that he managed to get his first outlet off the ground. That was in 2017 at Tanjong Pagar MRT station. It closed in 2019 with the end of its lease and was followed by a string of outlets in locations such as Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Centrepoint, which also closed when their leases ended.

The company’s biggest investment to date is its flagship outlet at The Star Vista. Opened in November 2023, it cost $300,000 and nearly emptied its coffers.

It comprises two units separated by a glass panel. One houses the 30-seat cafe, which serves house-roasted brews such as Hand Pour (Filter Coffee) for $7+ and dishes like Beef Lasagna ($13.90+).

The other unit is The Cat Cafe Experience, which houses 19 cats, from prize-winning Maine Coons to adopted felines. Prices start at $8.90+ for a 20-minute visit on weekdays.

Mr Poh set up a cat cafe because he started keeping cats after he left prison. He fell in love with them as they are independent and easy to care for. They are also a source of comfort and joy for his staff.

The company was profitable at the time The Star Vista outlet opened, and Mr Poh reckons the cafe will now take three years to break even. For the past seven years, he has worked every day, and it was only in 2024 that he started taking one day off a week.

However, he adds: “I do wake up at 4am from stress every time it nears pay day for the staff.”

While working hard to establish his social enterprise, he also found time to fall in love again.

He met his now-fiancee Hue Siew Yeun, 42, in 2019, when she worked part-time at The Caffeine Experience after she was retrenched. The former assistant vice-president at a property developer is now a director at The Caffeine Experience and helps to manage operations, working full time alongside Mr Poh. They have not set a wedding date.

In 2022, Mr Poh successfully applied to be discharged from bankruptcy. But he is happy with taking public transport these days and has no plans to buy a car. He also has no intention to apply for a credit card and does not even have an ATM card. Ms Hue helps him manage financial matters for the business, as well as his personal finances.

“I am debt-free and live a modest life,” he says.

The couple spend no more than $1,000 on meals each month, dining at hawker centres and foodcourts, and at cafes only on special occasions.

The financial side of his business could be better, though. There were two months in 2024 when he did not draw a salary so he could pay his staff first. He still considers it a success in terms of changing lives, having helped 60 ex-offenders to date.

“I have seen many lives change and families reunite because the ex-offenders found a stable job and turned their lives around. It is not just them, but their loved ones too who benefit from what we are doing.”

Two more outlets are slated to open in the next couple of months, and Mr Poh is looking for more investors to expand operations and hire more former offenders.

His hope for 2025 is to raise $500,000 to set up 10 coffee kiosks, which can each potentially hire two ex-offenders.

He says: “My focus is on helping ex-offenders. If they can start a new life, we have done our part. What I am doing is honouring God and the second chances I have been given.”